Animal Farm
By David Jones
Question:
The Text can have mass appeal and at the same time address simple and complex issues. Discuss this statement with the reference to one print text.
“Every line I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism,” quotes George Orwell in the preference to the 1956 signet classic edition of Animal Farm. It is in Animal Farm, lesser talked about for the author’s social theories in 1984, that Orwell’s criticism can be seen as well as Orwell’s social theory, which can be seen through a careful reading of what the animals refer to as “Animalism”. Animalism has it’s faults and inaccuracies, but Orwrell’s use of it is to put forth his own political and social doctrine based on remedying those faults. Such issues as propaganda, power, greed, corruption and knowledge are issues which can relate to masses of people as we are dealing with particular constitutions. Orwell puts his views across to capture mass appeal by using the issues he has expressed in his novel.
Mass Appeal occurs when an item has appealed to the majority of a group of people. George Orwell has used Animal Farm to show people his views on totalitarianism. Animal farm is basically about a communist government that started of giving all animals equal rights, then the greed of the leaders destroyed equality and saw them joining their initial enemies. As you can see we are in connection with particular constitutions, so the novel already deals with masses of people, but the way in which it has gained mass appeal is another story. Orwell has extensively used Animalism and this has given the novel two aspects to been seen from. Firstly it can be seen as a fairytale, or it can be seen as a novel attacking and criticizing the communist Russia and explaining the Russian Revolution. The way Animalism has been used, by giving people animal like qualities and relating their behaviors to animal like ones, has been a major factor. When we see the novel from this angle it straight away becomes a very serious justifying novel. This has been given the novel the mass appeal it rightly deserves.
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George Orwell: The Callous Nature of Totalitarianism The establishment of an elite power in a society produces feelings of hopelessness and fear. George Orwell, a world-renowned poet and author is known for his politically influenced works regarding socialism. In Animal Farm, Orwell creates a satire based on the communist regime in Russia from 19171943. The animals seeking freedom under their ...
Some of the more compelxed issues in this novel is the way the animals believe in religion. Old Major, sanctified by the animals after his talk, is the visionary the animals needed to lead them out of their state of nature. But old Major, who dies three days after his speech is not a prophet nor is he representative of the nature of religion in Orwell’s view of the state, only as the visionary philosopher responsible for perpetuating social change. It is Moses, the lone animal who slept through the speech, that represents religion. Though his name alone invokes an underlying religious meaning, when we look at the character and his interactions with the animals do we see his role as representative of the Church. Moses does no work; he only sits on a pole and tells tales of a mysterious country called Sugarland Mountain, where all animals go when they die. Moses is a tool of the state. Feeding off crusts of bread soaked in beer left by Mr. Jones, Moses is his especial pet, feeding lies and stories to the animals to give them something to live for. After old Major’s speech was heard by the animals and his school of thought, began to spread across the farm, only Moses was too stubborn to listen or pay any attention. Interestingly, after the animals successfully revolt, Moses disappears, only to return a little while later, after Napoleon, the eventual totalitarian leader of the animals, uses him as a tool just as Mr. Jones did. He begins to tell his stories again and gets paid in beer, just as he did before with the animals’ leader. Orwell believed religion would not fade away after revolution because there would always be a people hard on their luck and looking for answers to questions and places they can go after they die where life is easier. Orwell believed in a society that would always have a class of people who would always turn to religion.
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Animals Are Good Metaphors In Literature (Examples From Animals Are Good Metaphors In Literature (Examples From Animal Farm And Gulliver's Travels) Because we consider ourselves to be better or higher life forms than animals (especially pigs) showing them to be the same as or better than us is a good satirical tool for exposing human folly or for showing human behavior to be anomalistic. In animal ...
Orwell believed that a nation would always exist where there are people, thereby allowing for nationalism, just like religion, would fade away after the Revolution. The Revolution in Animal Farm, clearly based on the Russian Revolution, did not keep nationalism from disappearing, a point Orwell makes clear early on. The animals, after revolting, are so proud of their newly formed state, that they take a green tablecloth and paint a white hoof and a horn on it similar to the hammer and sickle of the former Soviet Union. It is a flag that flies over the newly-named Animal Farm and at whose base lies a gun taken from a helper of Mr. Jones and later, the disinterred skull of the old Major.
Looking deeper at Animal Farm, we can see that Orwell’s criticism through Animalism goes way beyond religion and the nationalism to revolution and the nature of man. The gun that sits at the foot of the flagstaff, besides being a reminder of the Battle of Cowshed, it is also a criticism on the method behind the Rebellion, thereby a criticism on Trotsky’s methods of revolution as well. Whereas old Major’s Animalism preached revolution through working “day and night, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race”, the animals revolted with war and bloodshed, symbolized by the gun and the war cry of Snowball (Trotsky) at The Battle of Cowshed. A serious objection by Orwell on Trotskyism is their conviction of Socialism’s victory by any means necessary. Though hard-working proletarian Boxer, after a subsequent attempt at taking over the farm by the humans, says, “I have no wish to take life, not even human life”, his damage has already been done, having killed a man. Boxer, representative of the anti-capitalistic Boxer Rebellion of 1900 in China, may speak of pacifism, but his words are coming from the mouth of a horse who has killed. To Orwell, Socialism through warring was just as decadent as what Socialism was supposed to overthrow capitalism. Orwell did not want war because it would put Socialism on the same scale as its enemy because, as Vladimir Lenin wrote, capitalism led to war not Socialism.
The Essay on Characters in George Orwells novel “Animal Farm”
The book animal farm, written by George Orwell, is believed to tell the story of not just a story about some rebellious animals, but represents how the Russian revolution took place. Many believe this because of the way he portrays certain characters in the novel. Such as snowball being represented as Leon Trotsky, old major being represented as , and the ruthless leader of the farm napoleon ...
Although throughout to novel we can see all these animals are very different, they all shared one common trait. They were all weak. They all let Napoleon take over without much resistance. Just like Stalin took over Russia. These animals were too weak, too scared, or just lacked the intelligence required to do something about it. This is where it is the fault of the people. They should have stood up to Napoleon for what they fought for in the first place. The people must stand up to those who would destroy the system or else all is lost. I think that this story was a good representation of the actual Russian Revolution. But it is even more than that. It shows how people can let certain individuals get away with anything just because they do not feel like standing up to them. If you tried, this story could also be compared to other times in history when the people let dictatorships form in their own country.
As you can see, George Orwell has successfully addressed simple and compelxed issues and gained mass appeal through the writing of animal farm. This novel is a great text that we can relate to many situations, I enjoyed this book a lot but I do not think that it should be just compared to the Russian Revolution, it has a much broader scope. Successful Animalism is the political and social doctrine George Orwell waited years to write.
